


Foul Ball

by tatooedlaura



Series: Life [6]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: X-Files OctoberFicFest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-29 05:29:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8477155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatooedlaura/pseuds/tatooedlaura
Summary: Always pay attention to the ball ....





	

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to:
> 
> Mama Scully’s Party  
> Morning  
> Underwears  
> Maps  
> Nachos

In the grand scheme of things, it probably would have been better if they had avoided the baseball game.

The first part of it went just great. Scully got her nachos and hot dog, Mulder got to watch a baseball game with Scully, the Nationals were winning … it was a great first hour.

Mulder had gone to the bathroom and on his way back, Scully saw him and stood, stepping out into the aisle to let him pass. While both were distracted, a foul ball shot back into the crowd, the annoying man who’d been behind Mulder shoved him out of the way, reached for the ball and in the process, elbowed Scully directly in the face, full force and without remorse. Instead of stopping to see how she was, he scrambled for the ball, knocked into her, causing her to land with her back against the cement steps, upper spine slamming into the surface a quarter second before the back of her head followed suit.

Mulder, back up immediately, took in his bleeding Scully and released a rage monster from deep within, grabbing the same idiot who was now crowing that he’d caught the ball. Not caring about the world around them in that second, he hit him repeatedly, taking the man to the ground in one punch and silencing him with a second and third.

Luckily for Mulder, there were several large fans who chose to pull him off and away while some others moved to Scully’s side.

All in all, it was a very exciting 40 seconds for everyone in their section.

Mulder was hauled away immediately while Scully and the other man were loaded up and carried off, Scully still unconscious and Al Tyson bleeding from his thoroughly broken nose and split lip.

&&&&&&&&&&

Mulder took his booking and his holding quietly, not using his badge or his job description to attempt to grease any wheels, instead admitting his idiocy but never actually apologizing for it. He didn’t have his wallet to pay bail, given he’d passed it to Scully to hold until he returned from the bathroom.

So he sat and waited, asking every minute or so if anyone knew where they’d taken Scully or if they could at least call the stadium to find out which hospital. Eventually someone took pity on him and told him she was at DC General.

At least he had that to work with. Next he used his phone call to contact Frohike, who hacked more information for him about Scully, then came to pick him up.

“Dude, seriously?”

Not in the mood for comments, Mulder just nodded, “can you just take me to DC General?”

“First I bail you out and without so much as a thank-you, you demand I ferry you around the city?”

It was either give him incentive or beg cab fare, “if you’re lucky, maybe you’ll see Scully in a hospital gown. Can we just go, please?”

Realizing this really wasn’t the time to mess with him, Frohike nodded, “van’s parked outside. Come on.”

“Thanks.” He said ‘thanks’ again when Frohike dropped him off at the Emergency Room entrance, “I’ll pay you back tomorrow.”

“Whenever, dude. I know where you live.”

With that, Mulder disappeared into the hospital.

Finding her wasn’t too hard, given she was still in the ER and after a few minutes of inquiry and explanation, he was pulling back her curtain, glancing her up and down swiftly before meeting her eyes, which were thankfully open although very nearly swollen shut, “hi there.”

She was sitting upright, back and head not touching the mattress behind her, “Hi. Where the hell have you been?”

“Would you believe in jail for assault?”

She pretended to give it some thought, “actually, yeah. Can you get me out of here?”

“You don’t want to hear the story?”

Wincing when she shifted her shoulders, “first I want out, then you can tell me all about your time in the slammer and why baseball games are fun to go to.”

He gave her an apologetic smile, squeezing first her feet through the blanket, then running his hand lightly up her shin and knee until he picked up and moved to her hand. Leaning over to drop a kiss to the crown of her head, “let me go find somebody to free you. I’ll be back.”

Once he’d located a nurse who promised to find them a doctor, he returned to the room, settling in beside her on the mattress, her hand back in his, “will you tell me what the diagnosis is, please? So I know if sitting here is causing you loads of pain you won’t tell me about.”

She nearly smiled. Nearly. “Broken cheek bone from the elbow, eight stitches to the back of the head from the step and a whopping bruise across my upper back. They were worried about cracked ribs but so far, nothing’s shown on the xrays.”

“No concussion?”

“No. I got lucky.”

For a moment, he let himself be truly scared for her but squelching it back down, bringing her hand up to kiss her knuckles, “no kidding.

Even through her slight haze of painkillers and her various throbbing parts, she was taken aback by how openly he was touching her, showing his fear at how close things came to not being okay. “I’ll be fine, Mulder. I just really wish I could lie down.”

“Well, once I get you home, you can.”

Forgetting for a moment, she sat back, bolted upright again instantly, “ooooh, shit, that hurts.”

“Hurts what?”

“Everything.”

&&&&&&&&&&

By four a.m., they were on their way to Scully’s, Mulder driving as slow as humanly possible to avoid jarring his partner. He’d gone back to the stadium, retrieved the car and then rescued her from hospital hell, easing her into the passenger seat before beginning the long trek home.

Every bump, while making Scully wince but survive, killed Mulder. He knew she was hurting and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it except try to drive better. He had a pounding tension headache by the time he got her inside the apartment and to the bathroom. Leaving her to fend for herself, he turned down the bed, found pajamas, got her a glass of water and her pain meds then waited, impatiently, for her to come back out so he could see she was indeed still upright.

She made him turn around while she slowly got her pajamas on but didn’t make him leave, knowing he’d just fight her on it and she didn’t need that right now. “Okay, I’m gonna need some help climbing into this obscenely high bed.”

Giving her a lift, then a slight push, she was soon on her right side, facing the center of the bed, her eyes closed in the sheer pleasure of not being upright anymore. “You have no idea how good this feels, Mulder.”

“Well, from the sound you made just now, I’d say pretty good.”

Still able to give him an eyebrow, she then gave a small smile, “I think you should turn off the lights and come lay down and tell me your story.”

“You sure? I can go if you want to sleep.”

“I can stay awake long enough to hear the story of my knight in shining armor beating the crap out of some asshole for me.”

Not needing anymore invitation than that, he carefully settled in beside her, getting comfortable before, “so, I was coming back from the bathroom …” Once he’d finished, she was still awake, although looking more fuzzy than normal so he asked quietly, “want to hear why tonight’s baseball game was supposed to be fun?”

Mumbling ‘sure’, she closed her eyes for longer than before but still blinked them open.

Taking this as a sign he should be quick, he told her in a whisper, “because I got to go with you.”

About to comment a slurred, ‘why don’t you just stay the night?’

… she found that he was already asleep.


End file.
